The Belen High School auditorium, with poor lighting, a chipped stage and an under-equipped lighting and audio control center, will be getting needed improvements, after the Belen Board of Education last night approved $600,000 for renovations.

The intention of the board coming into the meeting was to provide half a million for the renovation. But Board Member Julian Luna spoke up to say he thought the board was going to “bump it up” by $100,000, as had been discussed at earlier meetings.

“It’s not just all about athletics,” he said. “I just think we ought to throw that extra $100,000 in there.”

At his request, the board unanimously agreed to up the amount, bringing the total to $600,000.

“We can get a lot of this done over the summer,” Board President Jamie Goldberg said, “that way when the kids come in they can have a freshly refaced auditorium.”

The board also agreed to provide an additional $250,000 for Fine Arts at Belen Middle School and the elementary level. Goldberg asked Superintendent Patricia Rael to ensure the money is distributed equally to each school.

“Is it OK if we make sure that money gets distributed fairly amongst the district to each school so they can do what they need?” Goldberg said. “Make sure that each school gets some of it.”

Rael cautioned that the district can’t use the money for “small, consumable items” but she said she would do her best to distribute the money fairly.

“What I’d like to do is bring some of the Fine Arts people in and talk to them a little bit about the needs and then bring you a proposal,” she said.

Rael expects to have a proposal for how all the money will be spent sometime in June.

This page was published on May 13, 2009 at 7:14am and is filed under Archive.